Making Up for Lost Time
by Xanette
Summary: Rei, a girl who grew up with Sora, Riku, and Kairi, ceaselessly searches for her friends. After years of looking for them-more specifically, looking for Riku- she wonders how she could have ever lived without him. RikuOC One-Shot.


**Disclaimers**: All the characters from _Kingdom Hearts_ belong to Square Enix and Tetsuya Nomura. Rei belongs to me.

**Warnings**: Mild language, suggestive themes, and action.

* * *

**Making Up for Lost Time**

**(A Riku One-Shot)**

I shivered again in the dark night. I hugged myself to keep warm, but it was absolutely no use. I would never get to see him again. I would never get to see Kairi or Sora again either. Was it going to end this way?

I suddenly heard a noise. Somebody was fighting.. I quickly made my way over to the tumult. Sora was fighting a cloaked man. He was from the Organization. I gasped at the scene, which attracted the cloaked man's attention.

"What-"

"Take this!" I was interrupted by Sora's voice. The man suddenly disappeared, along with the heartless.

"Sora?" I asked after a moment.

He turned to me and took a defensive stance. "Who are you!?"

I was offended.

"Sora! It's me!" I exclaimed harshly.

He looked baffled for a moment as he stared. Then he grinned impishly, his Keyblade disappearing.

"Rei?" he asked sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Idiot," I muttered, walking away.

"Hey, wait!" He ran towards me. Out of nowhere, a dog and a duck and a girl appeared.

The girl looked around, seeming to not notice my presence. "Looks like he got away."

"How come you're after somebody from Organization XII?" The dog asked.

"What is tha-" she was interrupted by the short duck.

"Sora, who is this?"

"Oh! That's right, you haven't met. Rei, this is Donald, Goofy, and Mulan."

"Pleasure."

Sora then proceeded to explain that Organization XIII were the bad guys. And ironically, coming from the top of the hilly mountain, what seemed to be like millions of floating yellow heartless appeared.

"Again?" Donald whined.

"Okay! First things first!" Sora said, running forward, Keyblade in hand. Everyone ran towards the heartless and started attacking. I stayed in place, knowing I couldn't do anything. I wasn't able to kill such a large amount of heartless myself.

Sora suddenly stopped and turned around. There was another Organization memb...No. He wasn't an Organization member. He was different. Very different.

"Hey you! Quit sneaking around!" Sora pointed his Keyblade at the man.

The man raised his hand and pointed behind him, where heartless floated above Sora's head. He quickly attacked a few nearby, and then turned to the man again.

And the fight was intense. I didn't want to interfere. This man wasn't a Nobody. Sora fought him relentlessly, attacking heartless that got in the way.

Sora defeated him, and the man stood there.

And I suddenly recognized the man's weapon. _'Soul Eater? There's no way...'_

I gasped and he immediately tensed up; he hadn't noticed me either. But of course, no one would pay attention to someone in the shadows. Some of my black hair suddenly fell in my face, and I reached my arm up to tuck it behind my ear. I looked at him with wide, hazel eyes. My shallow breaths came out in wisps of smoke.

The man looked back at Sora after what seemed like an eternity of staring and seemed to shrug, before turning and running away. I chased after him.

"Wait!" I called; he turned his head, but kept running.

"That guy..." Sora said, pensive. "No...Why...Would he?"

"Riku?"I heard him call somewhere behind me. Sora started running, almost immediately catching up to me.

And the man disappeared. I felt tears build up in my eyes.

"You promised me," I whispered, staring at the last place I saw the man.

"Sora, are you Ok?" Donald called from behind us.

"Did you get 'im?" Goofy asked.

"Hmm...Oh-he's gone."

"What?! You lost him?" Donald yelled.

Sora ignored him and walked over to me. "Rei.."

I felt my face get colder with my tear-stained cheeks. The whole world seemed to stop moving as I came to a realization. "Sora.."

"He broke his promise again," I managed to choke out.

Sora put his hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said.

I nodded and wiped my tears with my sleeve. Sora turned to his friends again.

"So...What now?"

"I think we better get rid of all the heartless first." Goofy proposed. Donald nodded.

The ground started shaking, like a very small earthquake. I stumbled slightly. Sora caught me before I hit the ground.

"What was that?" Mulan asked. "Come on, we better get off the mountain." Sora nodded and walked back to where I came from. I'd never visited this world, so I wasn't sure what lay ahead of this mountain.

"Are you going to come with us?" Sora asked me. I shook my head.

"I think I better go. Don't worry, we'll run into each other sooner or later," Sora frowned, but nodded and watched as I summoned my portal and stepped through.

-(*)-

"Cloud? What are you doing here?" I asked, surprised at his sudden appearance.

Cloud only turned his head at my words. "Sephiroth."

"What? Cloud, no!" I ran over to him and grabbed his sleeve.

"You can't..."

He looked angry. "Do you think I can't beat him? I have to."

"Cloud, it's not that. I don't want you to get hurt...Not you too."

His face softened at my words. "Don't worry, I'll be fine," And he left, leaving me standing there staring at his retreating figure.

"Cloud.." I ran after him.

I don't think he noticed me following him; either that or he didn't care. But when we got to the destination, I saw Sora there.

"Sorry to keep you, Sephiroth!"

"Cloud," Sephiroth mused. I watched in despair as they walked towards each other.

"Rei?" Sora called from the sidelines.

I glanced at him and tried to make my way over to him and his friends, but I ended up collapsing on my knees.

"You'll never let go of the darkness.."

_"Riku?" He looked over at me to show he was listening._

I shook my head to rid myself of the memory. It didn't leave.

_"Promise me that you won't ever leave me.." He took my hands in his and smiled._

"Stop. Please, stop!" I yelled in hysteria.

"You'll never let go your past." Sephiroth continued.

_"I promise," he leaned in and kissed me._

"Shut up!" Cloud and I yelled in unison as Sora made his way over to me. "Rei? Are you Ok?!"

Sora looked over at Cloud in worry. I sobbed.

"Cloud! Get him!" Sora yelled. I watched in tears as I saw what seemed to be a repeated fight unravel before me.

_I could only watch in horror as two best friends fought over Kingdom Hearts. "Please stop..."_

"Please.." Sora held on to my shoulders and shook me.

"Rei, snap out of it!" Someone else came into the picture but my mind was too jumbled up to notice.

"Cloud, you can have my light." A girl's voice said.

"The light doesn't suit you." Sephiroth took his stance again.

"I just...don't know." Cloud was surrounded by light.

I screamed, pushing Sora away from me and crawling away from the burning light. Sora looked frantic and reached out towards me.

"Rei!?" I looked up at him with overflowing tears and let myself be engulfed by the darkness.

-(*)-

"How long has it been?" I asked myself, sitting on the clock tower in Twilight Town.

"Riku.."

I sighed as I remembered all the trouble he caused me when he left Destiny Island and didn't take me with him. When he left and broke his promise. And started this wild goose chase that had Sora and I worried.

"What about you, Roxas?" I said, smiling to myself.

Of course, I had my own story. After the he left, I became something...unusual.

I let myself be overcome by darkness, but not like Riku. He was tempted. I simply fell in but didn't let myself be overtaken. After Riku disappeared, I joined Organization XIII. They never knew who I was, or what my ties were with Sora and Riku. I was simply another Nobody to them. I didn't even have to try to act like one, I was a mess after Riku left-and as time went by, I became numb. Even if I'd told them I wasn't a Nobody, I'm sure they wouldn't believe me.

Of course, my friends there were Roxas, Axel, and Demyx. I knew who Roxas was...And what he was looking for. I ran away with him, but a little after a year, he disappeared. I never saw him again after that. I knew he was joined with Sora once more though. I could feel his presence whenever I was around the spiky-haired knucklehead.

I grinned and stared up at the moon.

"When will I see you two again?" I whispered.

I heard the soft sound of the waves singing their lullaby. I felt tears come to my eyes again as I thought of all the people that had been taken away from me.

"I promised you I wouldn't cry, right Roxas?"

I wiped my tears away and looked at a single star that seemed to be glowing brighter than all of the others.

"What are you doing here?" the voice startled me so, that I almost fell of the tower. I looked to my side and saw someone I thought I would never see again.

"Axel?" I stared at him.

"Wow. Talk about Blank with a capital 'B'."

I laughed and he sat next to me. And for some strange reason I had this feeling that something wasn't right.

"You miss Key Boy?" he asked, staring at the sky.

"You have no idea. I've missed you too." He smiled at my words.

"Good to hear. I thought Key Boy was getting all the love," he said. I laughed again.

"What ever gave you the idea I was giving Roxas _any_ love?"

"The fact that you left with him," he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No," I furrowed my eyebrows. "He was just..." I pondered over the right words to say. "Like my best friend. Like someone I used to know. Except he left me too."

Axel frowned.

"No," he said.

"He just didn't want you to get hurt." My eyes widened.

"What?"

"Nothing." He stood up.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I don't know anymore," he said quietly. My eyebrows furrowed again.

"I just wanted to say goodbye," At this, my head snapped to the side, only to see that he had disappeared.

"Did I..."

"Did I only imagine him?" I looked back up to the bright star, finding that it wasn't there anymore. I frowned deeply.

"Axel.."

-(*)-

I walked silently in the dark alleys of the World That Never Was. It was eerie quiet. I never liked walking around alone.

"Sora!" I heard a familiar voice yell. I ran towards the voice.

"Donald! Goofy!" I saw Sora run towards them.

"Sora!" I yelled. He stopped and turned around.

"Rei?" he turned around, surprised.

Then something happened that surprised us both. A portal appeared and an Organization member stepped out.

"Huh?" Sora looked perplexed. The cloaked member summoned something to his hand.

"A Keyblade!?" Sora took fighting stance and the man ran towards him, attacking. Sora blocked his attack.

I ran towards them both, and then all I saw was light. I hissed and covered my eyes. After I felt that it was safe, I uncovered my eyes to see Sora fighting someone I was positive I knew. They were fighting on a circle that had Sora engraved on it. It seemed really familiar, but I didn't think much of it because I was outside of it. I couldn't get in. So why could I see them?

"Sora!" I banged my fists on the invisible wall that surrounded the circle.

"Wh-Who are you?" Sora couldn't hear me. I figured as much.

"Someone from the dark." I gasped.

"Roxas!" I banged my fists harder on the wall.

"You can't be...Riku?" Sora asked. Just hearing the name made my heart feel like it was being torn apart.

"Riku?" Roxas asked. "...I defeated a Riku once."

Of course. I was there.

_I ran in front of Roxas before the blind-folded man attacked him. I created a barrier at once. My eyes widened._

"You what?" Sora exclaimed. Roxas got in an offensive stance.

"Tell me..." He began. "Tell me why he picked you!" He ran towards Sora, letting his Keyblades drag on the floor. Sora dodged his attack.

_"Riku?" I whispered. The man froze and began backing up. "...Rei?"_

Roxas and Sora fought mercilessly. They fought in the air, and Roxas stayed up in the air and stared down at Sora. He looked like realized something.

"I see. That's why." Roxas said. He came back down and resumed his battle with Sora. Sora got his Keyblade knocked out of his hand.

_Realizing that it was two against one, even though one of them meant absolutely no harm at all, the man disappeared. "Wait!" I called after him._

Sora ran after his Keyblade, but Roxas beat him to it and made sure he couldn't grab it. He pointed his other Keyblade at Sora. Sora glared up at him with clenched fists.

_"Wait..."_

Sora held his hand out towards his Keyblade, and the Keyblade disappeared.

"What!?"

The Keyblade reappeared in Sora's hands and he swiped at Roxas.

"Roxas!" I banged my fists even harder against the wall, and the wall cracked and created a gaping hole big enough for me to fit through. I ran over to him. He dropped his Keyblades, and they disappeared. He seemed to see me and walked past Sora. He began to fall. I slid to the floor and caught him before he collapsed. His hood had fallen off his head.

He looked over at me with a small smile and nodded. I let him go as he stood up with his head held high.

"Thank you, Rei," he said, glancing at me with a smile before turning his head back to Sora.

"You make a good other." Everything went white again and the setting went back to what it was supposed to be. Sora stared at me blankly.

"You make a good other," he repeated, confused. Donald and Goofy came up behind him.

"Are you Ok?" Donald asked him.

"What just happened?" he asked, still staring at me. I frowned. I didn't want to explain.

"Gawrsh, I dunno. You just disappeared, then me and Donald had to fight some Nobodies," Goofy said.

"Oh. He said...he defeated Riku..." Sora looked pensive. A pained look came across my features at the name. Sora didn't seem to notice.

"Who said that?" Donald asked.

"That guy. In the black coat," Sora explained, turning towards Donald and Goofy.

"But nobody could defeat Riku," Donald deducted.

"Y...Yeah. You're right," Sora gave in. I took my chance to disappear into the darkness when he wasn't paying attention.

"Roxas...You're gone now too."

-(*)-

"Sora?" I sighed in exasperation as I saw him again.

"Sora. You've done well." I heard a voice somewhere above us.

Sora spared me a glance. "Where's Kairi!?" He yelled up at the voice.

"Who knows? I expect she's catching up with her friend from the darkness."

"Friend...From the darkness?" I asked, confused.

"What do you mean!?" Sora yelled up at the person who I know knew was Saix.

"She doesn't need you anymore," Saix said.

"I'm supposed to believe that?"

"Well, you don't have to...But you can believe this. Organization XIII has no further use for you...Just look there," Saix pointed at the heart-shaped moon.

"Our Kingdom Hearts...Thanks to you, we've collected countless hearts...Can you hear their euphoria?" Saix asked. I grimaced up at him. The sadistic, twisted little..

"Now, all they need is one more helping from the Keyblade bearer!" Saix snapped his fingers, and thousands of heartless appeared around Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I. We backed up until we were back to back.

"We gotta fight!" Donald exclaimed.

"But-Kingdom Hearts!" Sora said in exasperation.

"Sora! Sora, it's really you!?" I looked up to see Kairi.

"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed, apparently forgetting that we were completely outnumbered by heartless. Some heartless jumped on him, catching him off guard.

"You leave Sora alone!" Was all I heard from Kairi before I turned.

I opened my once-hazel-eyes and looked around, heartless surrounding me. I flexed my long claws and started attacking the yellow-eyed monsters around me. My movements were swift and perfect, like a dance performed by a Dancer Nobody covered in silk, black blankets. But inside, I was being torn apart; my heart was being drowned in pain.

My beady yellow eyes searched around me, daring every single heartless to even try to defeat me. They all backed down. Good. I couldn't stay in this form long, or it would overcome me.

After bouncing some heartless towards Donald and Goofy so they could kill them off, I turned back. I could never stay in that form for long. I would be completely immersed in darkness.

"Get off!" Sora threw the heartless off him. He looked up to where I presume Kairi was- I was too busy looking around at the remaining heartless.

"What's going on?!" Suddenly, a glowing crystal landed next to Sora. I gasped. Not good. The crystals came in dozens as they killed off the remaining heartless.

"Have you been a good boy?" Someone asked. I groaned. Not him.

"Show yourself!" Sora yelled.

Xigbar stepped out of a portal. "Oh. It sounds like you haven't. Sora! Roxas!" I winced loudly, hissing up at Xigbar, my eyes flashing yellow. Xigbar shot me an amused look.

"Roxas?" Sora asked, turning towards me and Donald. "Hey, did he just call me Roxas?" Donald nodded.

"You really put Organization XIII in a pickle. I guess that must mean why the Keyblade chose you. But MAN did it pick a dud this time. You don't look like you're HALF the hero the others were," Xigbar mused. I tensed. Did he mean..?

"Are you done rambling!?" Sora yelled up at him, pissed.

"Rambling? As if! All I'm trying to tell you, traitor, is that your time is up!" Xigbar jumped from wherever he was and landed with a smirk.

"Here he comes!" Goofy exclaimed. I rolled my eyes. As if it wasn't obvious.

Xigbar threw one of his weapons at me while I was distracted. It hit my stomach and wrapped around my arms. The lighted weapon binded me to the wall. I struggled against it.

"Rei!" Sora yelled, making his way after me.

"Sora! Forget about me! Get your head in the fight!" I yelled. But then light came from the weapon, making me scream and thrash against it. Next thing I knew, I was unconscious.

-(*)-

I awoke to Sora asking a fallen Xigbar why he called him Roxas. Xigbar chuckled.

"Wouldn't you like to know..." He said before disappearing. His weapon that was still binding me to the wall disappeared too, and I fell to the floor.

"Hey! Hold on!" Sora yelled after him. I groaned.

"Rei! Are you Ok?" I nodded and stood up shakily. He smiled at me and Donald popped up behind him.

"Sora! It's Kairi!" Donald pointed somewhere. I was disoriented, so all I could do at the moment was walk over to them. My head was throbbing, but after a few moments it would probably just turn into a dull ache.

"Kairi! We're on our way!" Sora grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the next door.

We fought our way through countless heartless until we ended up with Kairi. She fought off a few heartless too. I smiled. She had seriously surpassed the damsel in distress part.

"Kairi! You were great!" Donald exclaimed happily.

"Oh?" She turned and giggled. Sora made his way over to her. "You are different, Kairi. But I'm just glad you're here!" Sora said.

"You and Riku never came home, so I came looking for you," Kairi exclaimed. I suddenly noticed someone standing always behind her. But she was blocking my view.

Sora looked ashamed and looked away. "I'm sorry." Kairi ran to him and hugged him.

"This is real..."

I had a clear view of the person now. I choked on air. I don't think he noticed I was there, because he summoned a portal and began walking towards it. My body wouldn't move. I wanted to kill myself.

"Wait! Ansem! I mean, Xehanort's Heartless...I'd never thought for a second that I'd ever see YOU again. Just thinking about all the things you did makes me really mad. But...But you saved Kairi, right? I have to be grateful for that. Thanks."

He began walking again. Kairi ran towards him, but I beat her to him.

"Wait!" He stopped and turned and I ran into his arms, crying. I felt him tense up and relax after a moment as he wrapped his arms around me with reluctance.

"Please don't leave me again. Please," I looked up at him, letting all the tears I've held back over the years fall free.

I was a being of darkness, so of course I could see that it was Riku. _My_ Riku. It didn't matter what he looked like, to me he would always be Riku. The love of my life.

His golden eyes looked down at me in shame. It looked like he was killing himself inside.

"Riku, don't go!" Kairi appeared next to me, but Riku paid her no mind, he was too busy having a staring contest with me.

"What!? Kairi, what did you just say?"

"Riku," Kairi said, turning towards Sora.

"I'm no one," Riku said, pulling away from me, "Just a castaway from the darkness."

"No!" I yelled. Everyone stared at me, and Riku turned his head.

"You're not..." I started crying again. I couldn't find the right words to say.

"Sora, come say something to him," Kairi said softly.

Sora walked over to me, putting his hand on my shaking shoulder.

"Here," Kairi said, taking Sora's other hand,"You'll understand." She put his hand on top of Riku's.

"Close your eyes," she instructed. Sora looked at Ansem and closed his eyes. A pained look crossed his facial features in realization.

"Riku...It's Riku. Riku's here," he said, falling to his knees, still holding Riku's hand. Riku turned around

"Riku...Do you know how much we've missed you?" I asked in a small voice, hugging him again.

"It doesn't matter what you look like. You're still Riku. You'll always be Riku," I said.

"I looked for you," Sora said.

"C'mon, Sora, You've got to pull it together," Riku said, overwhelmed by all the affection.

"I looked everywhere for you!"

"I didn't want you to find me," Riku said, casting a meaningful glance down at me.

"Why didn't you let me know you were Ok?" Sora asked.

"I told you," Riku said, removing me from him again, "I didn't want to be found," he didn't look me in the eye.

"Look at me!" I yelled.

"I haven't seen you in so long, Riku! Why do you keep pushing me away!? Why do you keep breaking your promise? Why...Why didn't you take me with you..?"

"Rei..." He whispered, hugging me. "I didn't want you to get hurt."

"I pushed you away so you wouldn't get involved. I broke my promises so you wouldn't get hurt. I didn't want to take you with me because you were...to good. Too pure. Now look what I've done. I've corrupted your soul," he said, tilting my chin up with his fingers. He looked at me meaningfully.

"This battle isn't over. And until it is, I still need the power of darkness," Riku said, breaking our eye contact and looking up at Sora.

"Then...Let's finish it." Sora said, clenching his fist, "You're still Riku, no matter what!" Everyone nodded.

"So how 'bout it? Think we can handle one last rumble together?" Sora asked with a smile. "The King's waiting!"

"Yeah! Let's get going!" Donald exclaimed.

I nodded and Riku laced his hand with mine. I smiled up at him.

"C'mon, guys. I know the way," I led them to Proof of Existance. We went through one of the only standing portals.

We saw a green light shining towards the heart-shaped moon.

"What's that?"

"It's the King and DiZ-I mean, Ansem the Wise. They must be higher up. We better hurry," Riku explained. Sora nodded and we headed our way back to Proof of Existance, but Sora got separated from the group when Luxord popped out of a portal and made his cards surround us. Riku squeezed my hand.

"You!" Sora yelled at him.

"I'd rather we just skip the formalities," Luxord said.

I don't know what happened, but next thing we knew, there was a flash of white and we were back where we were, with Sora was standing unscathed in front of us. We walked over to him.

"You Ok?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah. No worries. Let's keep moving." He suddenly turned towards me.

"Rei...what did you mean when you said you knew the way? Have you been here before?"

Oh yeah. I forgot that they thought I was walking around like an idiot. And they probably figured that I have never been here before. I forgot that they knew as much as Riku when it came to me.

"Er...I'll tell you later, alright?"

-(*)-

I groaned loudly and tried lifting myself up, completely disoriented. After Ansem's machine exploded, all I remember was seeing white. I felt my insides and my skin being burnt to bits.

Sora was the first one up. I was still lying on the floor. I felt like my energy had been depleted completely. I felt weak.

"Riku?" I heard Sora's voice ask.

"Wow!" I heard everyone exclaim.

"Ansem did say anything could happen..." the King commented.

"Riku, you gonna take that off?" Sora asked.

"Oh.." I heard some shifting.

"What was that?" Sora asked.

I don't know what happened after that, but I moaned loudly and opened my eyes. I heard footsteps making their way towards me.

"Rei?" I felt strong hands grab my arms and try to lift me into a sitting position.

I blinked repeatedly as I saw the angelic face of the boy I loved. It had been so long since I saw those eyes. Those beautiful green orbs.

"Am I...dreaming?" I asked. Kairi giggled. I touched Riku's face softly with my fingertips.

"Ri...ku?" He put his gloved hand over mine and leaned into my touch with a small smile. I smiled back.

There was a strange noise coming from the moon. "Uh-ooooh," Donald said. Riku helped me up and carried me bridal style to the noise. My feet wouldn't support me at the moment. We looked over the balcony-like place to see what seemed like a thousand heartless gathering together.

"What should we do, Riku?" asked Sora.

"We must defeat Xemnas. He's the Organization's last survivor."

"Right!" Sora said with a nod.

"Riku...I think I can walk now," I said in a small voice. He looked down at me in his arms and put me down cautiously. I felt weird. Like something was missing. I sighed and shook it off.

I heard shifting beside me and saw that Riku had ripped off his cloak. I think I started drooling.

"C'mon!" he said.

We all walked towards the purple fog. We ended up in one of my favorite rooms-except it was ruined when a ton of heartless began to walk on the magical paths.

"There's gonna be no end to this," Riku said.

"Together we can stop 'em!" Sora said in enthusiasm. Out of nowhere, Maleficent and Pete appeared in front of us. I squeaked in surprise.

"Begone from here! Leave these creatures to us!" Maleficent said.

"But there's no way we can take them all!" Pete exclaimed.

"I will be sending them after Xemnas. Or, perhaps, you would rather fight them yourself?"

"Frankly my dear, I'd rather RUN!" he yelled. I giggled, He turned to glare at me.

"Off with you then," Maleficent said in dismissal.

After that, I stretched out my hand and mustered some magic to summon the pathways. My arm fell limp to my side in exhaustion after that.

I furrowed my eyebrows in thought. Why was I so tired? Why did I feel so weak? I moaned in aggravation. Riku lifted me up a bit more.

My eyes got heavier, and the next thing I knew I drifted off.

_I was walking down the alley in Twilight Town again. I touched the walls to make sure it was real. The rough surface felt very, very real. My eyebrows scrunched in confusion. Was I...? Wasn't I in the World That Never Was? What was I doing here? Why was I..._

I was vaguely aware that I was dreaming. I was also aware that my body was moving, but it wasn't I that was moving my body.

_What..? I was suddenly in Hollow Bastion. I was in the room where they created the heartless. What was I doing here? Suddenly the ground beneath me opened. There was a spiral staircase visible. I made my way down. What could possibly be down there? At the end of stairs, there was a white room with an armor sprawled on the floor..._

"Rei, get up.."

_I found myself in another place. There was Keyblades everywhere, and a fight seemed to be going on. My eyes widened when a frozen figure began to fall from the cliff I saw not far away from me. It hit the side of the cliff dozens of times, and I screamed in terror as I made my way over to the place I knew he would fall in._

"Rei, get up!" Someone shook me. I whimpered.

_I got to him in time. The cold, frozen figure fell in my arms, but it made my body skid back a few feet. A pretty girl with short blue hair stopped me from skidding anymore. I sent her an appreciative glance and looked down at the boy in my arms. I paled in horror. "Roxas?" I choked._

"REI!" My eyes snapped open, but I immediately closed them again. I needed to see..

"Wait," I mumbled. The shaking of my body seized.

_Those vibrant blue eyes looked up at me with no recognition. Just horror-struck. I couldn't handle it any more. I closed my eyes and let the tears fall. "Roxas..." The girl took him from my arms. "Ven!"_

I opened my eyes slowly. Riku and the others were hovering over me.

"...Ven?" I asked, looking up to what seemed to be a huge white door in front of the heart-shaped moon.

"Who's Ven?" Riku asked, blinking.

"I...I don't know," I said, frowning. I rubbed my eyes and looked around.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You passed out for a while. Xemnas is on the other side of that door. We were trying to wake you up so you could come with us, but you kept telling us to wait. We were worried," Sora explained.

"Oh," I said, still dazed from the dream.

"Uhm," I stood up slowly. "So are we set?" They all nodded and Riku, Sora, and the King made their way over to the door.

They did this cool thing with their Keyblades and Sora exclaimed that it would end here.

We walked in through the doors. I felt like something was off with me, but again I shook it off. It was probably nothing.

"Huh!?" Sora glared up at this...thing up in the sky, where Xemnas could be seen in the distance.

"So...It seems your hearts have led you to obliteration."

I had no clue how we could hear him if he was that far away, but I didn't question it. This was a very strange world. He said something after that, but I was too busy staring wide-eyed at the huge building that was about to crash into us. I shrieked and moved out of the way.

"No!" I looked over to see what Riku's sudden outburst was about to see that the King and Kairi had been pushed back to the other side of the door. The door closed immediately. Sora and Riku turned and faced the direction Xemnas was.

"We can take them on our own!" Sora exclaimed and he summoned his Keyblade. Riku summoned his weapon too. I stood there, trying to summon my Anti-Form or something, but found that I couldn't. I gasped.

"My powers!" I squeaked. "They're gone!" I sighed in exasperation. At least I still had my clothes. I paid the three fairies a visit once, so Sora wasn't the only one with special clothes. My clothes summoned what I needed so I wouldn't get killed, but they were only for emergencies.

I took off my jacket and threw it to the side to reveal my normal clothing. Now I was in my jeans and black shirt. My jacket always reached down to my mid-thigh, so you could never have a clear view of my outfit. I put my hair up magically. My dark powers rendered me useless, but at least I still had my magic.

We fought our way through various obstacles. Nobodies, heartless, attacking walls and boulders, buildings thrown at us. And then we finally made it to Xemnas. He was wearing strange armor...

I charged, Sora, Riku and the sidekicks right behind me. I attacked as much as I could, which was a lot, surprisingly. I even made an opening for Riku and Sora so they could attack him for a long time. After a while, I began to get tired though, and my movements were sluggish. Riku probably noticed because he grabbed my arm and threw me to the side where Xemnas couldn't get to me unless he stood up. Which seemed like he wasn't going to do anytime soon.

Sora and Riku defeated him, and we were back where the door used to be. Xemnas grabbed his chest, as if in pain and fell to his knees.

"I need...more rage...I need...more hearts..." He said.

Sora stepped forward.

"Xemnas, there's more to a heart than just anger and hate. It's full of all kinds of feelings...Don't you remember?" Sora frowned.

"Unfortunately...I don't" Xemnas looked up with eyes that looked like they were full of sadness.

Kairi and Mickey appeared out of nowhere. Mickey congratulated everyone. Riku left the tiny celebration. I followed him and grabbed his arm tightly. He looked down at me with a sad smile.

"You're coming back with us, right?" Sora asked from behind us.

"I had given in to the darkness."

"Riku!" Sora said, somewhat annoyed.

"How am I gonna face everyone?" I let go of his arm as he turned around.

"Like this!" Sora made a funny face. I giggled. Riku laughed too.

Then the ground began to shake. I sighed in exasperation. We never got a break.

Mickey came over. "Hurry!" he said. Sora nodded and Riku held his hand out.

"I'll open a path!" Nothing happened.

"Let me try," I said, holding my hand out. Nothing happened.

"You two don't belong in the dark realm anymore," Mickey explained. As if it wasn't obvious already.

"How do we get out of here, your majesty?" Donald asked.

I turned around when I sensed a familiar presence somewhere behind me. It was Namine. She smiled at me and summoned a portal behind her.

Donald, Goofy, and Mickey went through the portal. The rest of us walked towards it.

"Thank you, Namine," I said. She smiled and nodded. "Sure."

"See? We met again, like we promised," she said to Sora.

"Huh?" Sora looked baffled.

"You said we'd meet again, but when we did we might not recognize each other," I smiled, recognizing the voice as a transparent-like Roxas stepped out of Sora.

"I did, didn't I?"

"But I knew you," Roxas said.

"Mm, it's strange."

"I think I understand. I see myself the way you remember me. And you see yourself the way I remember you.." Roxas said.

"I always thought Nobodies were doomed to fade back into darkness..." Namine said.

"Yeah. But you and I didn't."

Roxas turned to me. "Rei.." He took my hands in his. "Thank you so much. For everything." He hugged me tightly. I smiled.

Riku growled, and Roxas laughed as let me go,

"Don't worry, she's all yours," he said, stepping away from me.

"Take care of her, Riku. Don't ever let her go," he said.

"I won't," Riku said, a harsh edge to his voice.

Namine took Kairi's hand and they both glowed as Namine disappeared.

Roxas took a step towards Sora. "Look sharp!" Roxas said, and Sora straightened up. Roxas began to glow, and just before he disappeared, he sent me a smile.

"Hey, let's go home!" Kairi said.

We walked towards her, but the portal began to vanish right after she stepped in.

"Guys!" Kairi yelled.

"Huh?"

"What-"

"...Well, crap," I thought my exclamation beat Sora's and Riku's. It really did suck that we were stuck here though.

Suddenly, there was a flash of bright light from afar, and some flying, metallic bird came towards us. The platform that we were standing on tilted at an odd angle. I fell backwards, into the darkness.

"Rei!" I heard Sora and Riku scream my name from afar. My scream got caught in my throat as I was engulfed by the darkness.

-(*)-

I woke up in a dreary, dark island. I wondered where I was. I saw Riku and Sora talking near the shore. I picked myself up and sat down next to Riku. He held my hand as he talked to Sora. I didn't want to interrupt.

"Riku…are we…stuck here?" I asked quietly as they finished their conversation. He looked at me and nodded slightly.

"Probably."

"Oh."

We sat there quietly, feeling the wind blow on our faces, near the shore. I felt something nudge my leg after a while.

"What's this?" I wondered, picking the bottle up. Riku took it away from me and opened it, pulling a piece of paper out.

"Sora? I think it's for you," Riku said, handing the paper to Sora. Sora read it silently to himself.

There was a small rectangular opening that appeared before us, brimming to the core with light.

"Light," Riku stated. "The door to light," Sora mused outloud. He stood suddenly, holding his hand out to me and Riku.

"We'll go together," he said, smiling. Riku nodded, and I helped him up. We stepped into the light.

Then we were falling.

We fell and fell, surrounded by light. Then there was water. Where were we?

"Sora! Riku! Rei!" I heard Kairi's voice from afar. Sora looked up, smiled brightly and began to run towards Kairi from the water. Riku and I followed suit, albeit a bit more slowly.

I saw Kairi beam at Sora.

Before Sora could reach her, Donald and Goody appeared out of nowhere and tackled him. King Mickey was there too, and he ran to Riku. Riku hugged him. It was very sweet.

"We're back," Sora stated, at a loss of what else to say. Kairi's smile widened and she held her hand out to him. "You're home," she said. Sora looked on the verge of crying from happiness as he grabbed her hand.

I smiled, happy they were together. Two strong arms appeared from behind me. Riku hugged me tightly.

I turned and kissed him, with all the passion and love I'd held in my heart since the day he left. He returned the kiss with just as much enthusiasm as I had, while he held me close to him.

I felt tears running down my cheeks at how happy he was. His hands cupped them gently, wiping away my tears.

"Riku," I mumbled against his lips. I felt him smile.

We would definitely make up for lost time. Together.


End file.
